Review: Annie(2014)

Review: Annie(2014)
*Mild Spoilers Alert
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Official 'Annie(2014)' Poster.

      The modern remake of the famous 'Annie(1982)' will feel very much familiar and for a specific group, still the movie is an enjoyable ride with good but far being fresh.

"Quvenzhane Wallis".

"Jamie Foxx" and
"Quvenzhane Wallis".

      10 year-old 'Annie'(Quvenzhane Wallis) is a foster child living with young 'Mia Putman'(Nicolette Pierini), bossy 'Pepper Olster'(Amanda Troya), 'Isabella Sullivan'(Eden Duncan-Smith) and 'Tessie Dutchess'(Zoe Margrett Coletti) in a foster home in Harlem. 'Annie' dreams of finding her parents so that she can finally feel as part of a family and loved. One day after passing the street without looking out, she meets wealthy politician 'William Stacks'(Jamie Foxx), who saves her. Seeing this encounter as an opportunity to boost his campaign to becoming mayor of New York, he decides to welcome 'Annie' into his home until his campaign finishes. But 'Will' will not envision or expect the positive changes that 'Annie' and her strong personality will bring to his life and the degree to which he will feel attached to her. Other major characters include 'Stacks''s personal assistant 'Grace Farrell'(Rose Byrne), 'Stacks''s personal advisor 'Guy'(Bob Cannavale), head of the foster home Miss 'Colleen Hannigan'(Cameron Diaz), 'Stacks''s bodyguard and driver 'Nash'(Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbage) and store owner 'Lou'(David Zayas).

"Rose Byrne" and
"Quvenzhane Wallis".

"Cameron Diaz", "Quvenzhane
Wallis" and "Nicolette Pierini".

      The original movie that was released back in 1982 did not go without its share of criticism. When the decision came to remake the musical with a modern flair, many were rightly skeptic about the result. Sure when dealing with these kind of movies, one should not expect much but seeing that "Will Smith", "Jada Pinkett Smith" and "Jay-Z" were producing the movie and seeing the talented actors and actresses that were cast to play the characters, many were optimistic that the movie will find some way to show this potential. The result is very much towards the lower ends of expectations. The movie is very much focused on the young/child group of audiences, that it forgot to bring a certain amount of emotional and narrative maturity to the story. The music, whether we are talking about the new additions or the re-imagined music from the original score, felt very auto-tuned and over-sung at various instances. The movie lacked that natural feeling and for some reason the people working on the movie felt the need to over-do many aspects. Still I must say that the movie is enjoyable, yet the lack of originality, real emotions and natural feelings did hurt it.

"Quvenzhane Wallis"
and "Jamie Foxx".

"Quvenzhane Wallis".

      Director "Will Gluck", known for his work on comedy movies such as 'Easy A' and 'Friends with Benefits', did not perform as many expected him to. The lack of passion towards the musical felt with his work. The picture and imagery felt in line with the modern take, yet the transitioning from one sequence to the other, the angles chosen for camera shooting and the actual flow of the movie felt sat many instances below level. The screenplay was written by "Gluck", as well as "Aline Brosh McKenna"('The Devil Wears Prada' and '27 Dresses') and acclaimed actress "Emma Thompson"('Nanny McPhee'). The story introduced new elements to the movie to fit this new take. Unfortunately these elements were not handled well, and the story in general lacked this human spark. It was very much a missed opportunity to provide more. The dance felt much choreographed, where it did not felt organic as it should have been. The music as mentioned before felt very much auto-tuned except for few songs. The director along with "Sia" and "Greg Kustin" provided the new songs to the movie, while "Charles Strouse" was in charge of a well composed score.

"Cameron Diaz", "Zoe Margrett
Coletti", "Eden Duncan-Smith",
"Quvenzhane Wallis", "Nicolette
 Pierini" and "Amanda Troya".

"Quvenzhane Wallis"
and "Rose Byrne".

      The opening moments included a clever and nice homage to the original sequel, but that's all in terms of reminiscing about the previous movie. Directly we are shown with this film the current feel to it and that changes are going to be made for most of the characters in order to be able to have their own representation of the movie. Whether it’s the scenes inside the foster home, 'Will' and 'Annie' meeting, moving into the new house or even the musical sequences, all those scenes have their few shinning and enjoyable moments, especially the famous anthem of the movie 'Tomorrow'. Yet they are many other scenes, specifically the musical scenes such as 'Who Am I?' and 'I Don't Need Anything But You' felt very much awkward, especially the auto tune which removed the emotional feel of these scenes. Also the penultimate helicopter chasing scene felt so ridiculous and lacked any sense of suspense due to predictability. Comedy of course was the main theme and for the most part the comedy used ranged from adequate to moderate, with the exception of few moments that can be counted on one hand. The ending, as with many musicals, was used only to conclude the movie to applaud the cast, but adding this nice touch of "Cameron Diaz"'s character was fun. Not forgetting a scene that included a cameo by three major stars, this particular cameo scene was oddly entertaining though irrelevant to the movie.

"Jamie Foxx", "Quvenzhane Wallis",
and "Rose Byrne".

"Cameron Diaz", "Amanda Troya"

, "Nicolette Pierini", "Jaime Foxx", 

"Quvenzhane Wallis" 

and "Rose Byrne".

      Seeing the talent that the cast had, it very much surprised me how they were used in an insufficient or incompetent manner. Oscar nominated "Quvenzhane Wallis" was a given a huge role to portray a completely different 'Annie then we are used to, making it a bit daunting on her providing an average yet likable performance. "Jamie Foxx" did his best to improve upon a one dimensional written character and managed to shine among this bunch. He was charming enough and had good chemistry with "Quvenzhane" and the remaining actors. "Rose Byrne" involvement was held back, unfortunate seeing that she is an amazing actress. "Bobby Cannavale" played the cliché performance of his character, while "Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbage" played the only interesting character, yet he was also insufficiently used. "Cameron Diaz" went multiple times between the thin line of being emotionally lost and obnoxious. Though I love her, "Diaz"'s vocal ability is weak. "David Zayas" played what is expected of him, though his arc with "Diaz"'s character was not fairly handled. The young actresses "Nicolette Pierini", "Amanda Troya", "Eden Duncan-Smith" and "Zoe Margrett Coletti", who played the orphans, were sidelined 20 minutes into the movie. While the remaining actors and actresses gave moderate performances. Also the dog, used heavily in trailers and promotion barely showed.

      Ultimately, 'Annie(2014)' was a huge miss on various opportunities that could have been taken advantage off, still it is an enjoyable musical to watch.

Official 'Annie(2014)' Poster.

-'Annie(2014)' Info:
-Based on: -'Annie(Musical)' by Thomas Meehan.
                  -'Little Orphan Annie' by Harold Gray.
-Starring: Quvenzhane Wallis, Jamie Foxx, Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale, Cameron Diaz, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbage, Nicolette Pierini, Amanda Troya, Eden Duncan-Smith, Zoe Margrett Coletti and David Zayas.
-Directed by: Will Gluck.
-Screenplay by: Will Gluck, Aline Brosh McKenna and Emma Thompson.
-Music by: Greg Kurstin.
-Running Time: 118 minutes.
-Budget: $ 65,000,000.
-Box Office: -Domestic(US): $ 85,061,639
                     -Foreign: $ 40,400,000**
-Ratings: -IMdb: 4.4/10.
                -Rotten Tomatoes: 28%.
                -Metacritic: 33%.

                -PERSONAL RATING: 6.0/10.

-'Annie(2014)' Trailer: